Good morning,

eBay is trimming its workforce again.

The online marketplace plans to cut around 1,000 jobs, or 9% of its employees, marking its second round of layoffs this year. The cuts come as eBay reshuffles resources toward its biggest growth bets, including AI and secondhand fashion, following its $1.4 billion acquisition of resale platform Depop in July.

Let’s dive into today’s edition.

Plus: Wonder plans to open 100 locations in Texas, PepsiCo and Taco Bell have renewed their beverage partnership, and Walmart has launched a joint Walmart+ and Sam’s Club Plus membership.

Walmart Marketplace has approved eight additional parcel carriers for sellers managing their own deliveries.

Key Details: UniUni, SpeedX, Exelot, SwiftX, TForce Final Mile, Gofo, OSM Worldwide, and DoorDash. Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery has also been added for freight shipments, giving sellers more options beyond UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

The expansion comes as Walmart’s e-commerce business grows, with marketplace net sales rising more than 50% in Q2. However, sellers must use approved carriers to avoid potential suppression, suspension, or termination if Walmart cannot validate tracking information.

What’s New: Separately, Walmart has introduced a Shopify app integration for its Multichannel Solutions (MCS) service, allowing merchants to fulfill Shopify orders using inventory stored in Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) warehouses. The integration syncs inventory and shipment tracking between the platforms, with inventory updating automatically every hour.

Amazon will require U.S. sellers fulfilling orders themselves to provide prepaid return shipping labels for most returns starting December 18, 2026, according to an email the company sent to sellers.

Key Details: The change eliminates address-only labels that leave customers to arrange and pay for return shipping. Heavy and bulky items are temporarily exempt, although Amazon has not specified when the exemption will end.

Return Process: Sellers will have seven calendar days from a return request to upload a prepaid label through Amazon’s Manage Seller-Fulfilled Returns workflow or issue a full refund without requiring the product back.

Labels sent through Buyer-Seller Messaging or other channels will not satisfy the requirement. If neither action is completed on time, Amazon may automatically issue a returnless refund and deduct the amount from the seller’s account.

The change does not mean sellers will automatically bear shipping costs for every return. Responsibility still depends on the reason for the return under Amazon’s existing rules

Holiday demand surcharges on residential parcels are taking effect across the major U.S. carriers this week. Residential and air demand charges begin October 25 at UPS and October 26 at FedEx, with Amazon Shipping’s surcharges also starting October 25, nearly a month after FedEx and UPS began their first wave of fees.

UPS surcharges end January 16, 2027, while FedEx and USPS run until January 17, 2027.

Key Details: UPS’s standard residential ground demand fee starts at $0.50 per package and rises to $0.75 during peak, from Nov. 22 to Dec. 26. FedEx’s starts at $0.50 and climbs to $0.80 from Nov. 23 to Dec. 27.

FedEx’s express services carry steeper charges: First Overnight, Priority Overnight and Standard Overnight packages carry $1.30 per package from Oct. 26 to Nov. 22, rising to $2.55 in the following peak window.

Shein has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigation into delivery delays and other customer complaints, according to a Reuters report.

Key Details: he settlement amounts to 44% of the Chinese-founded fast-fashion retailer’s second-quarter profit. FTC records reviewed by Reuters show the agency received more than 12,000 complaints about Shein between January 2020 and June 2026, covering purchases worth more than $11 million.

Some customers reported packages marked as delivered that never arrived, and customer service complaints that went unresolved.

Big Picture: The settlement comes as Shein faces mounting pressure on the economics of its low-cost, cross-border e-commerce model. The U.S. and European Union have tightened rules around low-value imports, adding costs to shipments that helped make its inexpensive clothing attractive.

U.S. Halloween spending is expected to reach $13.5 billion in 2026, up from $13.1 billion in 2023, as retailers push seasonal merchandise onto shelves earlier to capture shoppers ahead of the holiday.

Key Details: A Deloitte survey found that 56% of consumers planned to make Halloween purchases by the end of September, while the National Retail Federation found that 49% intended to start shopping in September or earlier. Home Depot launched its Halfway to Halloween collection in April, and Target refreshed 70% of its Halloween assortment in August.

What’s Next: The early start offers retailers more time to capture seasonal spending before the November–December holiday rush, which Bain & Company expects to exceed $1 trillion this year, up 4.5% from 2025. But consumer confidence remains uneven: while 58% of Deloitte respondents expected the economy to remain stable or improve, 42% anticipated conditions worsening.

Target has completed the redesign of its 26,000-square-foot SoHo store in New York, turning it into a concept store built around interactive displays, curated merchandise and exclusive shopping experiences.

Key Details: The newly opened lower level features dedicated spaces for home, wellness, toys and food, including shoppable living rooms, a New York-inspired food market and a wellness section featuring Korean beauty products and emerging brands.

Big Picture: The redesign is part of Target’s effort to make physical stores more than places to pick up everyday essentials, using design and discovery to give shoppers reasons to return. Apparel and accessories have emerged as the store’s best-performing category since its reopening, according to the retailer.

Kroger plans to invest $5 billion to improve value for shoppers, making some of its largest price cuts in years as it tries to win back market share from Walmart, Costco, and other grocery rivals.

What’s Happening: Under new CEO Greg Foran, the supermarket operator plans to lower everyday prices, simplify promotions, and expand private-label products and prepared meals. The company will fund the investment in part through cost-cutting measures, including sourcing products directly from growers and consolidating purchases across suppliers.

Kroger, which operates chains including Ralphs and Fred Meyer, is also pulling back from apparel and general merchandise to focus on categories it believes better meet shoppers’ needs.

Big Picture: The shift reflects intensifying competition in a grocery market where shoppers remain sensitive to food prices, and retailers are using discounts to attract spending.

Walmart is building infrastructure to let AI assistants shop directly on its platform, betting that automated purchasing will become a bigger part of online retail.

Key Details: The retailer introduced the Walmart Agent Gateway, which connects AI assistants, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s Muse, to Walmart and Sam’s Club systems to search for products and complete purchases.

It also plans to roll out Agent Profiles in November, allowing customers to authorize individual agents, set spending limits or require approval for transactions, and track agent purchases separately.

AI Agents: Walmart says customers will retain control, and agents cannot access payment-card data; customers can revoke access, and Walmart can block agents for violating company rules. All Walmart account holders will have access to the tools without a Walmart+ subscription.

The move marks a strategic contrast with Amazon, which has sought to restrict third-party AI agents from accessing its platform